It's Kind Of A Long Story
by K8 the great
Summary: Alice Longbottom II and James Potter II have known each other forever! As they go through the years they discover they have feelings for each other. (summary sucks but story is good [please have faith]) Read and Review Please!
1. Prologue

Yes yes I know. "Why are you starting another fic while still in the middle of another one?" Don't worry! Just because I am starting this one, does not mean I am abandoning my Divergent fic. I just needed a little break. I have a minor case of writers block and writing something else helps it. I am working on DSTCA as I work on this. (If you have no idea what fic I'm talking about, read it :D ) This is the prologue of my James and Alice fanfic. Please read and review!

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Who am I? My name is Alice Longbottom II. And until now I didn't realize that I was a part of a beautiful love story. And with James Sirius Potter! Who would've thought that I'd end up with the messy-haired boy whose house I spent time at during Christmas since I could walk. It was a big and unexpected journey for us to get to this point. Nobody really seemed to expect it, least of all: Me. Everybody seemed as shocked as I did when we finally got together. Except maybe Lucy Weasley…

James brushed my long blonde hair behind my ear and kissed me sweetly. He pulled back and looked me directly in the eye, his hazel ones connecting with my blue ones.

"I love you."

Three little words. They were so simple yet they meant so much. And they were being spoken softly to me right now.

"I love you, too," I whispered, breathless.

For a moment I thought about how we ended up like this. That is a long, long story. Fortunately, I have time to tell you.

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If you click the next button I will love you forever. Prologues are never that great so hold tight!


	2. Chapter 1

Just so you know, this story will go through the years of James and Alice knowing each other. Please enjoy!

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When we first met, James wasn't too keen on talking with me. Then again, he was four and I was three. Somehow I remember meeting him like it was yesterday.

I was playing with these enchanted dolls with Rose and Lily, though Lily was only a toddler. The dolls spoke and moved around how we wanted them to. Rose's and my doll were having little conversations and making plastic food together while Lily's was doing some sort of spastic dance or something. I remember seeing Ginny pulling James towards me as he attempted to run away back to the other boys. Ginny, seemingly giving up, picked him up and carried him over to me. Keeping a firm grip on him, she spoke.

"Alice, sweetie, this is James, my son. James, this is Alice, Neville and Hannah's daughter. Say hello, won't you?" she asked. It sounded more like an order than a request.

James sighed in aggravation, forced a grin that looked painful, and said curtly, "Hello, Alice."

"Hi," I replied with a small smile.

Ginny had smiled warmly at me. All too soon her smile dropped from her face when James wiggled out of her hands and ran back to Fred, Albus, Louis, and Teddy.

All the other kids in the family were a lot nicer, though I'm not sure if I could count the babies as nice since all they did was babble and drool. But Victoire and Dominique cooed over me, Rosie and I became fast friends, Roxanne loved joking around with me, and I suppose the boys were nice but I didn't spend as much time with them.

Soon enough, us Longbottoms began visiting the Potter-Weasley clan repeatedly. We were practically part of the family! New baby Lucy was born, Luna and Rolf began bringing over their twins, Lorcan and Lysander, and Hugo started walking. I was there watching all their milestones.

Occasionally James would say hello to me or ask me to pass the juice at dinner, but not much more than that. The other boys warmed up to me. Albus played with me when I was bored and the other girls were asleep or doing something and Fred taught me how to light the perfect firecracker! Even little Hugo was nice to me and gave me a piece of chocolate when I fell off my broom!

As we grew older, I just ignored him. We rarely talked to each other and when we did, it was for less than twenty seconds. It didn't matter much to me but every time we didn't hold a conversation for a minute, James and I would get equally disapproving looks from one of our parents.

Finally, they took matters into their own hands and had a talk with us. It was a pretty spring day at the Burrow. All the kids were playing outside but James and I had been pulled aside. I was seven at the time and he was eight.

"James, Alice," Harry said. "We've noticed that ever since you two met, you haven't gotten along."

"And we wanted to know if there's any reason for that," my mum put in gently.

"You two have known one another for years now but you never speak. Are you mad at each other?" Ginny asked.

We just shrugged or shook our heads.

"Well we want you two to get along like you do with all the others," Dad said.

Me being the total Daddy's Girl that I am, said shamefully, "I'm sorry, Dad."

He smiled warmly at me, "Sweetie, it's not me that you have to apologize to."

He tilted his head in James's direction as if to say "go on".

I got what he meant after a second and said, "But why? I haven't done anything wrong to him."

"Me neither!" James but in. "So what if we're not friends? It's just the way things are! Girls and boys aren't _supposed_ to be friends."

"James, you know that's not true," Ginny chided. "You ought to be nice to Alice. She's a lovely young girl and you would be lucky to have her as a friend."

My cheeks burned with that statement. James snickered at my red face and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Alice, be nice," Mum warned. I turned my eyes downcast. I hated disappointing my parents.

So hesitantly I looked back up at James who was a head taller than me and said, "Sorry, James."

"For…" Mum urged.

"For ignoring you and sticking my tongue out at you. It was mean of me," I said.

"Um, I'm sorry, too," James said unsure.

"And what are you sorry for, James?" Ginny smirked. She was clearly enjoying putting James on the spot. Harry was also holding back a smile.

James sighed dramatically and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you ever since I met you and for laughing at you before," he said.

"And?" Ginny said.

He huffed, "And for taking the last juice pouch when I already had one and you didn't last week."

"Anything else?" Ginny gently urged him.

"And for putting that bug in your hair at Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron's house that one time. But that was an accident, I swear it!"

I shuddered at that memory.

"It's okay, James, I forgive you," I stopped him. I didn't want him to turn me down another dark alley in Memory Lane.

"Good, now hug and you can go off and play," Mum said.

Both our eyes widened to the size of plates. Hug? No way! That was so not happening! But to my surprise James took a step forward, quickly wrapped me in his arms, and then bolted back outside. After a moment of shock, I ran outside too, where my friends were playing and awing at my little sister, Helena, who was blowing rainbow bubbles.

That was the first day that my parents could ever get us alone into a picture together.

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Did you like? Please leave a review if you did! Or even if you didn't. Criticism is welcome!


	3. Chapter 2

Next chapter! Please read and review!

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We got closer with each other as the years passed. At first, it was mostly to keep our parents off our backs but then we actually began having real conversations together! But all too soon, he was eleven and I was only ten. He had received his Hogwarts letter while I was destined to stay at home with Mum and Helena. At least I had most of his family to keep me company.

"I promise I'll write every single one of you!" James said as he readied to board the train. I decided to accompany the family to King's Cross to say goodbye.

I waited patiently as he hugged his family. Cousins, aunts, uncles, Albus, Lily and his parents.

When Harry hugged James, I heard him say to his dad, "Promise to write me every day?"

"Of course," Harry promised. "Every day."

I was the only one who heard. I intended not to let anyone else know.

His cousins began hugging him again, telling him to send them pictures and not to cause too much trouble. Slowly they began leaving the station to get back home and I was the only one left.

I wrapped James in a tight hug and whispered in his ear, "You better write to me or you can count on dung bombs in your stocking at Christmas."

He chuckled and said, "I'll keep that in mind. Bye, Alice."

"See you soon, James," I said and let go.

He stepped onto the train and disappeared from my sight. And off sped the train, on to Hogwarts.

I waited impatiently for around a month to receive a letter from him. But his owl never came and the only ones that came from school was one from dad saying he couldn't wait to see us on the weekend. But letters never came from James and I was afraid he had forgotten me. I got prepared to Owl Order dung bombs.

But finally one morning in mid-October, I received a parcel carried by two tired looking owls. I quickly took the parcel and found why they looked so exhausted. The thing was heavy! Especially for two little birds!

I set the parcel down on the table and got some water for the owls. As soon as they were drinking, I sat down and tore the paper off the package. A letter floated out of the paper. It read **_Alice Longbottom_** in a messy scrawl that could only be identified as James's handwriting. I opened up the envelope and began reading.

_Dear Alice,_

_I promised to write so here it is! This probably took a while to get to your house since the parcel is kind of big and the owls aren't that large… Just so you know I sent this on September 21._

My mouth dropped open. Those poor birds had been flying for days! They probably had to stop a dozen times!

_The classes are amazing—except potions which is awful. Defense Against the Dark Arts is so cool! And Charms is really fun! The other day I made bubbles using only my wand! Isn't that awesome? I can't wait to see you and the others at Christmas! Tell Hannah and Helena hi and I'll see you in December for Christmas break._

_-James_

_P.S. I gave Teddy some galleons and got him to buy you some stuff in Hogsmeade. Hope you like it!_

I opened the cardboard box and saw loads of things with Honeydukes, Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and Zonkos labels on them. There was a box of colored firecrackers (requested by Fred, no doubt), a box of my favorite sugar quills, two packets of pepper imps, a pack of exploding snap cards, some chocolate frogs, color changing ink, a remembrall (which was some sort of joke involving my dad), and an assortment of other things.

Quickly I scribbled out a letter to him.

_Dear James,_

_Are you absolutely mad?! Those birds looked like they were going to drop dead the second I let them in! Why didn't you use a bigger bird? And that _is _really cool. I bet you're learning loads. Is History of Magic as boring as everyone says? And thank you so much for all that stuff! I'll have to ask my dad the story about the remembrall because he's never mentioned it to me. I'm eating a cinnamon-flavored sugar quill right now. Yum! Write back soon!_

_-Alice _

As soon as the owls looked healthy enough to fly, I sent them back to Hogwarts, one holding my letter for James. Then I ran upstairs to my room and stashed the box of gifts in the back of my closet so both Helena and Mum wouldn't find it. I'm never really selfish, but this was a gift for me and me only. I was determined to keep it that way.

Over the next few weeks, James and I owled back and forth. The next one I had gotten from him had a line that said: _We're all a little mad here, Alice. And yes I did just quote a muggle film._

He told me in his letters about taking flying lessons and how he was the best one there and how he _finally_ managed to turn his match into a needle after a hundred attempts. I told him how when we went to the Burrow and began to de-gnome the garden, we taught Helena how to do it too. Although she was only eight and a half, she could throw that gnome far! She got them past the tree stump four times!

Finally I received the final letter from him before it was time for him to come home.

_Dear Alice,_

_Thanks again for the Licorice Wands. I can't believe it's almost Christmas! I can't wait until I get home and see you and the whole family. I'm bringing a load of peppermint frogs for everyone. I've got one with your name on it. It keeps trying to escape! I'm not going to bother telling you what's happened this week because I'll be able to do that when I get home. See you in a few days!_

_-James_

I smiled and placed the letter next to me on the couch.

Helena bounced into the room took a glance at the letter and my smile and said, "Another letter from James? Is he your boyfriend or something?"

"Helena, stop it," I said with burning cheeks. "James is my friend. Friends write letters to one another."

She shrugged as if to say "I don't really believe you but I'll drop it". Yes, I _could_ get all of that from a shrug. She _did_ drop it.

The next two days passed slowly and filled with lots of boredom. The only exciting thing I did was watch a Quidditch game on the enchanted muggle television with Helena. It was the Holyhead Harpies versus the Appleby Arrows. Harpies won! Whoo! I spent the day celebrating with Helena eating exploding bonbons.

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Did you like/love/hate it? Christmas next! This is going be a relatively slow romance story. But hang in there it's not _that_ bad!


	4. Chapter 3

Here's the next chapter! ENJOY!

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It was the week of Christmas and every Weasley-Potter was home (except when Bill and Percy went out to buy some more pumpkin juice).

When Mrs. Weasley put a piece of chicken on my plate I said, "Thank you, Molly."

Molly II had looked over in confusion and Mrs. Weasley belly laughed.

"Sweetie, just call me Nana or Nana Weasley," she told me. "Everyone does. It helps stop the confusion."

"Are you sure? Because I'm not your granddaughter and—"

"Gobswoggle!" she cried, making me blank. "You're as much a part of this family as Roxanne or Lucy is!"

"Okay, um, Nana," I said awkwardly.

I made my way out of the kitchen and sat down at the kids table next to Helena and Rose and across from James. He smiled at me and shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth. As dinner went on, James and Fred explained in vast detail the events that had happened at Hogwarts. How they got detention for dropping a slime ball off the west tower and on to Professor Javeston's head. He was the bitter potions professor. James also talked about how Gryffindor beat Hufflepuff in Quidditch and he couldn't wait to try out next year.

"It was rigged. Must've been," Victoire declared sourly. She clearly wasn't happy about her house's loss.

"Maybe if you would try out already for Keeper than your house would win more often," Teddy said.

She shook her blonde head rapidly. Teddy just shrugged.

As we ate, we discussed Quidditch and which teams were best. Hugo argued that the Chudley Cannons were best, which his dad clearly taught him to say, while Rose and I vouched for the Harpies. Albus but in every now and then saying some fun facts about the players like "Did you know Avery Faspion's favorite candy is acid pops?" or "I read in a Quidditch book that Bradley Davison has a charity that goes to St. Mungo's."

After stuffing ourselves full with desserts of cakes, brownies, and cookies, we migrated into the living room. Mol—I mean Nana came in the room once everyone was settled, levitating dozens of flax cardboard boxes behind her.

"Alright, everyone! It's time for Weasley Christmas Jumpers!" she said and the boxes slowly distributed themselves around the room.

All the kids had sweaters with designs while the adults had solid colors because Nana had run out of different colors to give out. I always loved seeing what designs were made. Last year Rose got an orange sweater with flowers on it and Fred had gotten a dark blue sweater with bright smiley faces.

Last year was the first Christmas our family ever spent with them and they didn't expect us to come. Usually we spent it with my grandma but she passed away. So instead of feeling sorry for ourselves we decided to divulge in the Christmas spirit with their family.

I watched as Albus opened his box to find a black sweater with golden snitches on it.

I was so caught up in seeing who got what on their sweater that I jumped when Hermione touched my shoulder. She was wearing a purple sweater.

"Alice, you have one too," she told me, holding a box out in front of her.

Mrs. Weasley was also smiling down at me

"Mo—I mean Nana, this is too much! You shouldn't have made one for me," I said.

"Nonsense, dear. Like I said before, you are part of this family. And you are going to wear your jumper whether you like it or not. Fred and James will wrestle you into it," Nana said. "So go on, open it!"

Smiling, I pulled off the top of the box and unfolded the sweater. It was a baby blue with white snowflakes. The sweater was extremely soft.

I stood up and hugged Nana tightly.

"Thank you," I said.

"Of course, Alice," she said. "Now put it on."

I grinned and pulled it over my shirt.

James came over smiling. His sweater was red with cartoony lions on it. Obviously a celebration that he was put into Gryffindor.

"I like it," he said. "It matches your eyes."

"Thanks. I like yours, too," I replied.

Lily and Dominique bounced over. Lily had a light pink sweater with white bunnies and Dom had a mint green sweater with lavender stars.

"Alice, I love your sweater!" Dom gushed.

"Yeah, it's so Christmassy!" Lily said.

"I'm really feeling the love, guys, thanks," James said sarcastically and walked over to Fred.

As the night progressed, we talked and laughed, watched a funny muggle film called Home Alone, and Louis burned his tongue on hot chocolate. Things started winding down and eventually Hugo and Lucy got tired and went to sleep. That was when Dad decided it was for us to floo home.

With a quick "Merry Christmas!" and a long hug from Rose, I threw a pinch of floo powder into the fireplace and transported back to my house.

I only saw James one more time during his break but he spent most of that time with his family. I understood. He had been away for ages and it was important to spend time with them. I ended up playing Gobstones with Rose and Dom for most of the time. After that day he went back to Hogwarts for the rest of the year (him and Fred had decided to spend Easter break at school).

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I hope you guys liked that chapter! And if you didn't then oh well, nothing I can do about it... PLEASE leave me a review because they always make my day! Also check out my other stories (especially Divergent School of Theatrical and Creative Arts). Love all my awesome followers/reviewers!


	5. Chapter 4

"Hurry! To the platform!" Hermione guided us to the brick wall that I'd been through several times. Only this time I wasn't come back out for a good few months.

"Mum, calm down," Rose said. "The train doesn't leave for fifteen more minutes!"

"Better early than late, Rosie," she said. "Okay, Vic and Teddy first."

Victoire and Teddy ran at full speed toward the brick wall. The last thing I caught a glimpse of was Teddy's blue hair before thy melted into the wall. Next, Dom and Fred went through. Then James and Roxie, Louis and Molly, Albus and Lucy, and then me and Rose. The rest were coming through with the adults.

Hundreds of kids were already on the platform giving goodbye hugs and then running to greet old friends.

Mum bent down to my height and looked me in the eye.

"Don't worry about what house you get. Everywhere you go one of the Weasleys will be there for you. In Gryffindor you have Teddy, Fred, James, and Roxie. Hufflepuff you have Victoire. Ravenclaw you have Dom and Louis," she said.

"But what if I get Slytherin?" I asked. "Then I'll be alone."

"Sweetie, I doubt you'll be put in Slytherin. But if you are, you can make new friends. There's no harm in meeting new people."

"Okay, Mum," I said and hugged her tighter. "I'll miss you."

"You too, Alice. But we'll see each other soon," she said.

I nodded into her shoulder, "Okay. Love you."

"I love you, too."

Then I began hugging the Weasleys and Potters that weren't old enough for Hogwarts. When I got to Hugo, I saw over his shoulder Harry talking to James. Again, like déjà vu, I heard what he said.

"James, I know that at school it's not particularly _cool_ to hang around your little brother. But please do this for me: watch out for Al. I don't care if your friends think it's stupid or weird but he's new to this school and I want you to look after him. Rose and Alice, too. This is their first year at Hogwarts and they don't know anyone other than you and the rest of the family. So please, James, look after them," Harry said

James nodded, "Okay, Dad. I'll see you soon."

And with one last hug to Lily, he hopped on the train with Fred and Albus.

"Come on, Alice!" Rose grabbed my hand.

"Bye, Mum!" I called before Rose pulled me on the train.

We stood awkwardly for a moment, not sure where to go when Roxie waved us over.

"In here!" she called from the door of a compartment.

Rose and I hurried inside where there others were leaning out the window, waving to their parents. I joined them and waved at Mum and Helena.

"Don't forget to write!" Helena shouted over the noise.

"I won't!" I shouted back.

The train began to move and Helena tried to keep up.

"I'll miss you!" I called as we sped out of view. I heard her faintly yell back "You too!"

Smiling, I sat back in my seat next to Rose.

"On to Hogwarts, then," Dom said.

"Yeah," I said. "On to Hogwarts."

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Sorry for such a short chapter! Please leave me a review! It means a lot when I see them!


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